Depiction of the Female Characters by James Joyce in The Dead - Essay Example

Number] ‘Depiction of the female characters’; by James Joyce in “The Dead” ‘The Dead’ is a story ofa dead lover’s triumph over the living mockery of a husband. A husband, a man, who is in an awe of himself, who is the king of his own small world, but one cold Christmas night his world comes tumbling down on him like a house of cards. His ego got punctured by snapping remarks first by a maid, then by a colleague, and in the end the bubble of his fantasy world bursts around him. A man of his stature reduced to shambles all by the little, feeble, mere and domesticated hands of the female creatures that surrounds him. This essay is going to scrutinize how the women in this stroy influence and torches the emotions of the lead male character, Gabriel. This paper is going to dissect their characters to envision the pure essence of a woman’s character comparing it both by the eyes of the society, in this case Gabriel, and their own stance over it. Though the story revolves around one male character, Gabriel Conroy, the whole story is not about him, in fact it describes how he treats, offends, lust and behaves with the female characters around him. The story is told in a fashion as to show the view point of a man, a common man, but in his every day routine he comes across such women whose complex characters confuse him. The Story has six female characters, all of equal importance to the story, which are ;Kate and Julia Morgan, Mary Jane Morgan, Lily, Miss Molly Ivors and Gretta Conroy. In the opening scene of the story Kate and Julia Morkans (Gabriel’s Aunts) are throwing a Christmas party like every year and everyone is invited to that party; friends, family, and acquaintances. This is where the story is presented. The characters of Kate and Julia are both unique and symbolic in its own way. They are the spinster sisters, and they organize a Misses Morkan’s Dance every year in the holiday season at their home. Kate Morgan gives piano lessons and Julia is a dance teacher. They were spinsters and were extremely fond of their nephew Gabriel. Because of their feeble characters and dependency, Gabriel Conroy feels like a man of authority and caution around them, their characters gives essence to Gabriel’s character and makes him feel important in his own eyes. At one point Aunt Kate shows her affection and dependency on Gabriel, she said; "Its such a relief,that Gabriel is here. I always feel easier in my mind when hes here....” (pg: 6). She has always been very dependent on him especially after the death of her nephew, Pat. But it is later presented that their characters has a colour of their own. There was a point where Aunt Kate bravely defends her sister Julia, and openly voices her opinion on political grounds as well, she said to Mary Jane that she doesn’t think that pope is being honourable in turning the women down who has slaved for him all their lives just to make way for the little whipper-snapper boys, she argued quite angrily that it’s just not right. But the true depiction of their character is felt at the ending, when Gabriel was taken aback by Gretta’s revelation of her past lover, he was astounded to realise the true meaning of life and mortality. At this point he realised that soon he will be visiting his Aunt’s house for their funerals, he thought that soon he would be sitting in that same drawing-room, dressed in black, his silk hat on his knees. The blinds would be drawn down and Aunt Kate would be sitting beside him, crying and blowing her nose and telling him how Julia had died. And then there was the character of Miss Molly Ivors, she was a colleague of Gabriel Conroy. Her character was that of a dignified young, successful woman. She was not a shy character, she has her own point of views and opinion and she was quite frank about sharing her views. It was her abrupt sharpness that perplexed Gabriel when she questioned him about his literary article in the local newspaper; she even mocked him, called him ‘West Briton’ and said that "Well, Im ashamed of you," and taunted him for writing for a local newspaper. Because of her such comment (although he was quite fond of his column) he becomes embarrassed and in reaction to her mocking comments end up being rude to her. Her character portrays that picture of a woman that he is not used to in his life. She was open, loud, and has a way with her words. After Gabriel gave her incomplete answers, she probably got offended but being a dignified woman she left the party, without making any scene. Characters such as hers were not very common in those days, especially women characters. She sparked strange reactions in him, he was dumb founded and lost his tongue, and such was the shock he received when his intentions were questioned. Why is he so insecure? Probably because it was his comfort zone, he knows that in this house he has a stature of a supreme male being, he is of great importance for the whole family, and he was not ready for such a confrontation, that’s why he abruptly leave the conversation in the middle without giving any proper answers. In contrast to Miss Ivors character, there was the character of Lily, the house maid, although she belonged to the working class but her manners and sophistication speaks loudly for her character. When Gabriel was having a small talk with her, she was polite, but when he teased her about her getting married soon, she snapped and said; "The men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you.”(pg: 3) Her reaction challenges Gabriel’s intelligence. At this point he is perplexed and embarrassed and to hide his guilt he tossed a handsome tip towards her, which she very promptly refused. She is not a person who can be won over only by few pennies; she is smart and had a good head on her shoulders. These female characters that Gabriel encounters speak about the relationship between men and women of that age. Women are considered feeble and domestic, like his Aunts, Mary and Kate Morgan in the era. He gets along with them quite nicely and they too acknowledge him with great pride. Men at that time are considered the supreme power, they have authority and rights, and that has become a male’s psychology of that age, to think of himself as being righteous and powerful and to think too little of the women. This very trait of male psychology played a role when he encounters Miss Ivors and Lily, he was not expecting them to reply to him in that manner and question his motifs. The character of Gretta Conroy shines at the end of the story. Before that night Gabriel thought of himself to be the ultimate and only male personality in her life. But when he saw her being mesmerised by a song, and then realised that she is withdrawn deep in her thoughts, he questioned her. She revealed to him that day for the very first time that this song reminds her of a young boy who was immensely in love with her in her girlhood, and how he died one night waiting outside her window in the cold. She was a kind soul she kept this pain locked in her heart for so long, but when she revealed it to her husband she drains her heart out, she sobbed uncontrollably and told him how she asked that boy to go home or he will die. She very clearly remembers his eyes and how she felt when she looked into them. Her affection for that boy, Micheal, was very pure, she was concerned for his health genuinely and it deeply hurt her when she thinks of him. Her purity of heart is shown in the way she lives her life up till now. Her revelation jolted Gabriel and makes him realise that his love for her is not the only love she knows, there was a boy who died for her love. Suddenly he felt so insignificant in her life. Gretta’s own character was revealed through her untimely revelation. Although she was heartbroken by the boy’s death years ago she never mentioned him to Gabriel and makes him feel less about himself, she loved him un-questionably, and attended to his ailing mother lovingly. Gabriel was very fond of her and loved her, but he only thought of her as his wife, he never knew that she had a past so grey and gloomy. He never knew her true heart feelings. It was her revelation that makes him see the insignificance of this life and how mortal it is. All that night and in the entire story, the readers were engaged in the life of Gabriel and how he is moving about, but suddenly the plot twists and the readers were thrown down the memory lane of Gretta and her first love. Abruptly, Gabriel and the readers realised the insignificance of this world compared to the immortality of someone’s memories. All the problems and actions of Gabriel’s respectable life suddenly seem so colourless in the shade of the action of a dead boy who stood beneath the window in the rain to catch a glimpse of his sweetheart. Women in this entire story influences Gabriel, the lead male character, in every way, they made him feel powerful and manly, they question his intelligence, dismissed his questions, loved him, respected him and in the end made him realise that he is not the only man of importance. He realised through their actions and words and emotions that sometimes past actions are more powerful than the present moments. Work Cited James Joyce, Dubliners: The Dead, NY: Penguin Classics, New Ed. 2000. Print Read More